Interestingly, a few days ago two of those four economists - Laveesh Bhandari and Bibek Debroy - published a detailed report on performance of states in 2012 relative to 2011 based on central government statistics and as a follow up of their regular annual work.

A widely cited study, "Economic Freedom Rankings of States 2012", carried out by four renowned economists, is making news for ranking Gujarat as No 1 in economic freedom.